Chapter 5

“S o, you need to get past the guards on our door, the guards on this floor of the palace, the guards at the gates to the palace, and then…all the way to the tree, without being recognized or stopped?”

Kara was staring at me like I’d lost any sense I might once have possessed. And I couldn’t really blame her. I rubbed a hand across my face.

“What if I become Lord Orm’s concubine and find a way to cut his balls off instead?” I offered.

Kara blushed and Lhoris snorted a laugh. “Prick would deserve it,” he grunted.

“I’d be doing all females a favor.” I was trying to keep the banter up, but the truth was that my head was still spinning. I was facing impossibilities on all sides. The impossibility of being bound sexually to a male like Lord Orm versus the impossibility of surviving outside of the Gold Court’s protection. Not to mention, the impossibility of escaping the Gold Court.

“The guard really said he was coming for you tomorrow?” asked Kara.

“Yes. Tomorrow. We only have tonight.”

We were sitting around a small table in the larder room. Fortunately, there had been no sign of our fellow gold-givers . They must have been on private jobs. It often took weeks to do repair work, and it was not uncommon for the gold-givers to stay in the fae quarters during the jobs. Most rune-marked needed massive amounts of rest once they had worked. I had never found that to be the case, but I chose to keep that to myself. It gave me a chance to be on my own when the visions came.

“I’ll miss you.” Kara’s voice was tiny. I felt my face heat, my usual reaction to emotion. Tears did not fall easily for me, but I felt my emotions no less than those who cried. For some reason, my body reacted with flushed anger in place of salty tears.

“If it were not so dangerous, I would take you with me in a heartbeat.” I told her. I’d never known any family other Kara and Lhoris. My resolve wavered as I looked between them. Was the risk worth it?

Was the loss of the only two people in the world who loved me worth it?

Another unexpected internal battle had arisen within in me. Every time I thought of never working with gold again, a flash of fear burned me. Was I addicted to the work, like a warrior to ale, or peasants to the poppy? The sparkling golden runes were a part of me. Perhaps I needed them.

Lord Orm is one of the Queen’s favorites . He might let me continue to work in the palace with Lhoris and Kara, and the gold.

At the thought of the Lord though, the vision he’d sent of me naked and tied to the bed took over my mind. Revulsion rushed through my veins at what he might do to my body, and I hurried to stem my spiraling thoughts.

No . I would rather risk death than let Lord Orm do whatever he wished to me, for an interminably long time.

The light streaming in through the large windows dimmed and all three of us froze.

The light never dimmed in the Gold Court.

“What’s happening?” whispered Kara.

“Hush,” hissed Lhoris.

We all strained our ears, listening, barely breathing.

The distant sound of metal clashing reached me, and I looked at Lhoris. He gave a tiny nod, and I leaped to my feet, tugging Kara up.

“You hide in the larder cupboard, and you do not come out.” I pulled her toward the wooden towers of cupboards. Her face was a mask of panic.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. Tell me you understand me.”

She nodded, face pale. “Don’t come out of the cupboard.”

“Good.” I knelt, pulling rolls of dried meat and sacks of vegetables out of one of the lower cupboards and stuffing it all hastily into another. “There, there should be space. Get in.”

She threw her arms around me, her slight body trembling. “I don’t want you to leave.”

I tightened my own around her, heart pounding. “I know. I’ve loved working with you, Kara. You’re going to be the most amazing gold-giver ever, and don’t let anyone give you any ideas otherwise. You’re in charge of you, nobody else. Now, hide.” I placed a kiss on the top of her head, so light I wasn’t even sure she was aware of it. She released me, and ducked down, folding herself into the cupboard. Her cheeks were streaked with tears.

“Stay silent until Lhoris comes for you.”

I whirled before the sight of her terrified face could compel me to stay with her, breaking into a run.

Lhoris was at his bench. Anything that could be used as a weapon was gathered before him: heavy hammers, sharp scalpels, and his own hard-earned battle-axe.

“What’s happening?” I panted as I reached him. His face was grave. The sounds of swords and spears clashing was louder now, some very human sounding shouts audible too.

“Only one thing can make the light of the Gold Court dim.” Fear coiled in my gut. I knew what he was going to say.

“The Queen’s sister?”

He nodded grimly. “Or her son, the Prince of the Shadow Court.”

* * *

I made to grab for the smelting hammer on his work bench, but he reached out a hand and stopped me, grabbing my wrist.

“This is your chance.”

“To what, die? If the Shadow Court are raiding the palace, then things have escalated between the Queens.”

“Escape, Reyna. If there was ever a distraction that could be taken advantage of, then this is it.”

I stared at him, recognizing the determination in his eyes. “Are you going too?” I whispered.

A pang of longing sparked in the deep brown, but he shook his head. “I’ll stay. For Kara.”

Relief washed over me. She would be safe with him. “Thank you.”

He gave a grunt, then spoke. “You should take this.” He held up the staff I’d finished for him earlier, with the twenty feathers.

“What? No! You would be thrashed to within an inch of your life!”

His shoulders squared. “It would be worth it, for you to have such a valuable bartering tool on your journey. And besides, I believe enough chaos has struck the palace that I will be able to plead ignorance to its disappearance.”

I only hesitated a second longer. “Thank you.” I closed my hand around the staff. “Again.”

“Thank me by making something of your life that I never could, child.” The honest emotion in his face made my own burn. “Now, get your bag. This is it, Reyna.”

I sprinted to my bunkroom. I threw my meager belongings in a shouldersack, but took care to wrap the staff in the only thick fur I owned. The painted metal handles of all the staffs we made were designed to collapse in on themselves, so that they could be stored, transported, or in this case, hidden, easily. I could feel its weight though, when I donned the bag.

“I’m ready,” I said, running back into the workshop. I tried not to feel alarmed by how much darker the sky outside had become. The glittering, reflective golden light had never been absent from the workshop, in all the time I had lived there.

There was a loud thump from the locked doors, and Lhoris swiped up a razor-sharp scalpel, raising it alongside his axe.

Apprehension skittered through me as I moved to his side, picking up the hammer.

“Be ready,” he murmured, as another thump sounded, even louder.

I opened my mouth to reply, but my words faltered at the cold that shrouded me suddenly.

Something was wrong.

Fear that ran too deep to be attributed to the fight-ready battle tension I’d been experiencing a minute ago was crippling my thoughts.

Shadows .

There were shadows moving under the door, like lethal black smoke.

Slowly, painfully slowly, the shadows tightened, forming long black snakes.

My fingers trembled around the handle of the hammer.

I’d heard of the shadow snakes.

They said the snakes were the last thing any of his enemies saw, before they lost their sanity completely. There was only one fae in all of Yggdrasil who could conjure them.

The Shadow Court Prince.

Fear, not just for myself and my friends but for what I might be forced to do to them, made me want to cry out, or even hide with Kara.

You’re stronger than this, Reyna, I half shouted at myself in my mind. This is your chance to escape!

But none of this was what I had expected.

I had expected the human clans who fought for the Shadow Court. I had expected blood-thirsty warriors wielding axes and spears, too intent on killing each other to notice my escape. I had expected Lhoris and his axe to stay in the workshop and defend Kara if any of those warriors strayed too far from their fight.

I had been wrong.

The doors creaked, then burst open, revealing a figure seven feet tall and shrouded in black.

The fight had come to us, and it was no human warrior.

“Good evening, little gold-givers ,” said the Prince of the Shadow Court, stepping out of the shadows and into the room.